This Clever Idea Quadruples the Storage Possibilities in a Tiny Coat Closet

Published on 5/8/2019 at 3:47 PM

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Like so many families, the tiny coat closet in our front entry serves as a chaotic dumping ground for all sorts of household items rather than an actual coat closet. In fact, it's so pathetically shallow, we can barely close the door if we use it for its intended purpose. Since we moved into our home, I've failed at reimagining this useless bit of square footage. I've tried everything from hanging an over-the-door shoe rack (forget even trying to close the door) to coat hooks for holding backpacks and shopping bags (talk about a visual wasteland). It wasn't until I saw how Melissa George from Polished Habitat transformed her own cluttered coat closet into a beautifully organized cleaning/utility closet that I finally realized a plan for our space that could actually work.

The Before Photo

Look familiar? This image captures the crises I'm currently battling, which makes the after photo so much more inspiring. To start her plan of attack for the closet, Melissa began with her favorite organizational hack: making lists. First, she took a look at everything that was in the closet and decided whether or not each item made more sense somewhere else and which items should stay there. Next, she listed anything that was being stored somewhere else that made more sense to have in the closet. This helped her conceptualize the most efficient way to use the closet and decide what sort of storage pieces she needed to make it happen. Since they already had other spots in their home to store coats and jackets, she realized the greater need was to have a single place to store all of their cleaning equipment and home maintenance supplies.

Installing Shelves

A rainy Saturday was all it took to add in shelves and paint them using leftover paint from another room in the house. Melissa used 1×2s as braces and 16-inch-wide lumber for the shelves. She points out that you could also use premade shelves or a kit if that feels more manageable.

Organizing the Closet

After reviewing the list of items that she wanted to store in the closet, she realized she could store like items together in baskets and scored these patterned nesting baskets on Amazon ($20 for a set of three). Two more of Melissa's go-to retailers for finding affordable storage? Target Bullseye Playground at the front of the store and the Better Homes & Gardens line at Walmart. She also loves stocking up on cheap photo boxes to stay organized.

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Wall Storage

To keep items like brooms from tumbling out every time she opened the door, she stuck these handy Command broom and mop hangers to the wall. This small item ended up being one of her favorite discoveries from the project!

For more decluttering tips, check out these inspiring before-and-after photos using the KonMari Method and our favorite home organizing products from Amazon.